Shoe-lace fastener.



No. 667,939. Patented Feb. l2, l90l. H. A. FRYE.

SHOE LACE FASTENEB.

(Application filed July 11, 1900.)

(N0 Modal.)

INVENTOH R If}. I WITNESSES: WLA Henry Eye.

er flw 6 4 TTOHNE rs HENRY A. FRYE, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

SHOE LAGE FASTENEH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 667,939, dated February 12, 1901.

Application filed July 11, 1900. Serial No. 23,227. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY A. FRYE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of NewYork, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Shoe-Lace Fas tener, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to lace-fasteners particularly for shoes, and has for its object to provide a strong, simple, and inexpensive device for securing lace ends without tearing them and at the same time firmly hold them.

The invention will be fully described hereinafter and the features of novelty pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of my improved fastener ready for application to a shoe. Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the same applied. Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing another form of my lacefastener. Fig. l shows the second form of the fastener applied to a shoe, and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the top of a shoe, having my fastener applied thereto.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the fastener comprises a tubular member A and holdingprongs B. The fastener is made of one piece of sheet metal, the tubular member A being cylindrical, or approximately so, and having at its top a longitudinal slot A, preferably flaring at the edge of the member A, the slot terminating short of the other edge of said member. The upper portion of the tubular member is curved about semicylindrically, while the lower portion has two approximately plane or flat members A which touch each other at their inner ends, or nearly so, said members lying in the same plane. From the adjacent or meeting ends of the members A the prongs B extend downward, each prong being W-shaped and of a width equal to the length of the tubular portion A. In applying this fastener to a shoe the prongs B are driven through the leather 0 until the fiat from the one described above by the form and arrangement of the prongs B. These prongs are V-shaped and are disposed under that end of the tubular member A at which the open end of the slot A is situated. A shoulder A is left at the end of the tubular memher, so that said member will have a bearing against the leather both in front and in the rear of prongs B. This construction is simpler, lighter, and cheaper than the one first described without being inferior to it in strength.

I desire it to be understood that various modifications may be made Without departing from the nature of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A fastener for shoe-laces and the like, comprising a tubular body provided with hold ing-prongs at the center of its bottom, and a longitudinal slot extending at the top of said body from one edge thereof to a point at a distance from the other edge.

2. A fastener for shoe-laces and the like, comprising a tubular body provided with a curved upper portion slotted longitudinally from one edge to within a distance from the opposite edge, and two flat lower members located in approximately the same plane and extending toward each other, and holding prongs which extend downwardly from the adjacent ends of said lower members.

3. A fastener for shoe-laces and the like, comprising a tubular body having at its top a longitudinal slot extending from one edge to within a distance from the opposite edge, and holding-prongs extending downwardly from the tubular member under that part name to thisspecifieation in the presence of thereof at Which the open end of the slot is two subscribing witnesses.

situated, the prongs terminating short of both ends of the body, so as to have a shoni- HENRY FRYE' 5 den or bearing-surface on the body both in Witnesses:

advance and in the rear of the prongs. EVER-ARI) BOLTON MARSHALL,

In testimony whereof I have signed my JOHN LO'IKA. 

